


Perfect

by GalaxyAqua



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 11:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13523199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyAqua/pseuds/GalaxyAqua
Summary: Shirogane falls for her at auditions.





	Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven’t read [wrenkos’](http://archiveofourown.org/users/wrenkos/pseuds/wrenkos) [strawberries and snowflakes](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13132824), I highly recommend it! It’s super cute and it’s what got me thinking about this ship in the first place. Much love!

The first thing Shirogane notices is that Toujou Kirumi has the look of a girl that commands attention.

She’s tall and slim and elegant, and even though only one of her eyes are visible thanks to the silver sweep of her hair, she has an exquisite gaze. It’s coupled with a sharp face – which in theory produces the impression that she’d be cold and standoffish – but in fact, she’s just achingly shy.

She walks in far too tensely, fingers interlaced so tight it’s as though her whole life was being held together by the space between her hands, and she’s clearly uncomfortable standing in the audition hall under the spotlight. She doesn’t even look the judging panel in the eye – only stares into the ground and waits to be called upon.

Appearances aside, it’s a weak entrance, Shirogane decides.

“Would you please introduce yourself?” She asks, eyes scanning the paper application in front of her. Nothing special strikes her, nothing stands out like the few Shirogane had found herself interested in, but she gives Toujou the benefit of the doubt.

She looks up when she realizes that Toujou isn’t saying anything.

By all means, Shirogane could have dismissed her at that point like she’s dismissed hundreds of others and she wouldn’t have to bat an eyelash to do it.

Yet just as she’s considering cutting the audition off there, to save them all the trouble of sitting through another agonisingly trite and ill-considered audition, Toujou speaks and her voice is so pretty that Shirogane has to stop and listen.

“... and that is why I’m auditioning… for _Danganronpa_.” Toujou finishes her introduction by slipping – perhaps unknowingly – into an accent that she’s perhaps embarrassed by, because she covers her mouth and sways a little on her feet. “Um, yes. That’s my introduction."

It’s charming, in a way.

Shirogane assesses her more distantly, finding her eyes trailing to Toujou’s locked hands, which look well-worn – her thumb covers the end of a scar of some sort but Shirogane is too far to tell what it is.

“Your accent isn’t local.” She points out instead. “Where is it from?”

They move onto questions with that acting as transition, asking Toujou about her origin and then what sort of role she’d see herself in for the series, what are her motivations; the whole lot.

Toujou answers them all with a dignified grace, uncertainty seeping out of her pores until Shirogane asks, “Tell me, what do you think about _Danganronpa_?”

The answer leaves in confidence, “I love _Danganronpa_. It is my life _._ ”

Shirogane falls for her at auditions.

She doesn’t care that her fellow judges mark the girl down for her odd accent and her quieter attitude – she’ll convince them to change their minds later. When they hear about her plan, there’s no way they’ll turn her down.

Her pen taps against the application form, circling Toujou’s portrait with a ring of pink. “Thank you, Toujou-san, you may go now. Results will be sent out in a couple of weeks, so please look out for them.”

Toujou nods shyly and bows. “Thank you for your time.”

Shirogane smiles. “Thank you for yours.”

She’s going to make Toujou Kirumi her perfect girl.

 

* * *

 

Shirogane doesn’t sleep when she’s designing the role, consumed by a madness that she’d call infatuation if she were more self-aware, but she isn’t. She calls it craft and dedication. She calls it her job.

It’s her job to lovingly assign Toujou every quality that would make her heart swell, surely, because if Shirogane feels strongly about something, she knows that others will, too.

She imagines the incredible character everyone will meet soon enough, and doesn’t think about the tall, awkward country girl she met at auditions.

 

* * *

 

“I um, heard you made the final decision to accept me,” Toujou tells her as the rest of the cast is arriving, interacting in the background of their conversation in varying degrees of disarray. “Thank you very much. From the bottom of my heart. It means so much to me, and I won’t let you down. I promise.”

Shirogane finds it hard to focus when she is so close, but not hard enough to lose her strict composure. Promises are nice, she thinks. “You’re welcome, Toujou-san.” She answers. “I look forward to playing the killing game with you.”

“You’ll be playing?” She asks.

“Yes, I will,” Shirogane answers, and she can see her own sparkling gaze reflected in Toujou’s eyes.

“I hope we both survive.” Toujou murmurs, attention stolen by Momota, Shirogane’s future astronaut character, who rudely pushes into her as he’s started a fight with Akamatsu, her future pianist and protagonist of the upcoming series.

Shirogane doesn’t reply. Instead she watches, vaguely impressed as Toujou wrenches Momota and Akamatsu apart, and manages to draw guilty looks from both of them. She launches into a lecture that leaves them both apologizing to her, and Momota even sullenly keeps his mouth shut when he’s later provoked by the future detective Saihara, who mocks him for being annoying.

Toujou makes a statement towards him, too, and he stops his taunting, sauntering off to excitedly pester Amami, last season’s show-stopping hero. Shirogane regards Toujou with interest – so this is how she’s like in group situations.

She’ll amend Toujou’s character sheet, just a little, to include this trait. It won’t change anything. Fiction is still fiction. Reality is still reality. That’s what she tells herself.

 

* * *

 

In the preparation period, Toujou talks to her in a curious manner, complimenting her hair as she’s taking measurements for costume purposes.

“It is pretty,” Toujou says. “I could never have long hair like yours. Doesn’t it get in the way?”

Shirogane’s wrapped the measuring tape around Toujou’s waist when she makes this remark, and she smiles her most professional smile. “Oh, it does. But sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the sake of beauty.” She releases the tape and writes her findings on the clipboard in her lap. “Have you ever considered becoming a model, Toujou-san?”

“Oh, no,” Toujou blushes. “I’m not beautiful enough for that.”

Shirogane presses her lips in a thin line, and doesn’t tell her that she’s the most beautiful girl she’s ever seen.

 

* * *

 

A week before the season begins, she’s handing costumes to Toujou to try, when Toujou looks at her and smiles. “I’m so happy to be working with you, Shirogane-san. You’re really talented.”

Shirogane fumbles with her fingers. She won’t miss this Toujou, she tells herself, as she thinks about the pages and pages of personality and backstory she’s written for the Toujou Kirumi of _Danganronpa V3._

She won’t miss her at all.

 

* * *

  

“This one is more a classic maid’s dress, but I,” Toujou smiles nervously, lifting the hanger in her other hand. “I think I prefer this one. I appreciate the um, cobwebs. Is that weird to say?”

Shirogane laughs airily. It’s supposed to be a bullet hole shattering through glass, but she doesn’t correct her. “The cobweb design, is it? I plainly like that one too.”

“Oh, good.” Toujou beams brighter, then falters. “Actually, I thought I would offend you if I didn’t choose the other one, because you must have worked really hard on all these, and I feel bad for not being able to wear every single one. Ah, sorry, I’m rambling… I just. Your work is amazing. Is it really okay that I’m only going with this one?”

“It’s not a problem,” she says, plucking the hangers from Toujou’s hands and ignoring the way their fingers touched, even though Toujou, in a flustered state, starts to apologize. “Cobwebs it shall be.”

 

* * *

 

Toujou Kirumi of _Danganronpa V3_ is a strong, capable, hardworking young woman with the resolve of steel and the demeanor to match. She’s calm and collected, reasonable and rational, and Shirogane feels her insides melting every time she walks into the room.

She’s so perfect.

She listens to others, she’s subservient, able to fulfill every request that’s thrown at her so far, and her smile is gentle and serene. There are so many things Shirogane loves about _V3_ but Toujou Kirumi’s smile is one of the things she loves the most.

“Shall I help you clean, Toujou-san?” She asks.

“It is kind of you to offer, but there’s no need,” Toujou answers her, straightening her gloves. “I am almost done. Did you have a request for me?”

“Not at all. I’d like to get my mind off of things, is all,” Shirogane looks away. “All this… killing game business… it’s plainly stressing me out.”

“If assisting me will help you, then I will allow it.”

Shirogane smiles. “Just let me know what I can do.”

Spending time with Toujou is so peaceful, too. Time passes quickly when it’s just the two of them, and Shirogane doesn’t think about the fact that Toujou would spend time with anybody if they asked, or that Toujou is canonically written to be a calming presence.

But slice of life doesn’t get _Danganronpa_ ratings, and Shirogane can’t bask in this forever. She has to make her move.

She doesn’t think about Toujou when she sets up her trap, doesn’t think about her when she’s learned of the other trap that’s been set in lieu of her trap, doesn’t think about her when there are more lovely revelations (but what could be lovelier than Toujou Kirumi, she wonders, knowing she’s only kidding herself) – revelations such as the fact that Akamatsu and Saihara think they’ve understood her game so early.

Or the fact that Amami’s death flag is waving the moment he claimed he would end this, because his plan coincides with their trap perfectly, and Shirogane is over the moon.

Until she realizes, there’s one place it can all go wrong.

“Shirogane-san, do you wish for me to accompany you to the bathroom?”

“Oh, oh no, Toujou-san, thank you for offering.” Shirogane stammers, swallowing her intentions with a nervous smile, “It’s okay though. I um, I might be a while.”

Iruma, SHSL Inventor, snorts from the dining table but is too distracted fiddling with her equipment to make an unsavory remark higher than a murmur of ‘damn it Shittygane’.

Shinguuji, SHSL Anthropologist, a couple of chairs down from her, wisely chooses to keep his mouth shut and focuses on picking at his spaghetti instead.

Witnesses. They’d both have to go eventually, Shirogane decides. She has plans to dramatically twist audience opinion on the two of them anyway, just in case viewership starts dropping before the season finale. Her wonderful scapegoats, all in one place. She smiles.

“I see.” Toujou replies, smoothing her skirt. “Stay safe, then.”

Shirogane nods her departure, shuts the door quietly, and hurries to the bathroom.

Her business is quick. She waits. She watches. She acts. She succeeds.

It isn’t long until she’s rushing back with the panic that surrounds her, as the first body discovery announcement plays. They all file in, screams and dread filling the room until more than one of them surely feels nauseous.

In the basement library, Amami lies motionless, and chaos erupts.

Akamatsu’s plan goes flawlessly – almost too flawlessly, Shirogane thinks, pocketing her secrets for a later date – and she’s rightfully executed for the murder of the mysterious Amami Rantarou. Shirogane is so happy she cries, and Gokuhara, SHSL Entomologist, pats her on the back, saying, “It’s okay… it’s okay…”

He must have thought she was grieving, in which case, he should have directed his condolences to Saihara, who deserved it more than she did. Oh well, Gokuhara was written to be this way, so she can’t particularly fault him.

Through her falling tears, she keeps her eye on Toujou, who appears saddened, but she’s not shedding the tears that Shirogane now desperately wants her to. Oh well, Toujou was written to be this way, so she can’t particularly fault her either.

It’s lucky that Toujou won’t be around when the truth about this case is revealed, Shirogane thinks as she wakes a few mornings later to a motive perched delicately on her coffee table. She passes the next day with the same thought in mind, wondering if she regrets it at all.

But alas, the ball must keep rolling, and Shirogane has already set up the next case long before it happens. She touches Toujou’s hand without hesitation this time, taking the proffered cup of tea with a sweet smile.

"Thank you, Toujou-san. You really work so hard."

"I am doing my duty," Toujou replies. "But I am glad to be of service to you."

Shirogane smiles wider. What a perfect line. It's true, she truly did write Toujou to be her perfect girl. Her heart is fluttering as she watches the maid go, cobweb printed skirt following her skilled movement around the room. She might really be happy with this one, she thinks. Then she remembers she has her own duty to perform and a life with Toujou isn't part of it.

She has met her perfect girl in her perfect fictional world – that should be enough to satisfy her. Too much and she’d be bored, because perfect love stories are just plain boring, you know?

She watches Toujou through breakfast, mechanically preparing the dishes she had been requested to, firm expression unwavering. She’s so beautiful, so focused, so stunning even in the drab kitchen lighting. Shirogane thinks she’s truly perfect. In this moment, she’s just like everything she dreamed she would be.

But perfect love stories are boring, and Shirogane’s perfect girl would never fall for her, anyway.

It’s time for her to go now. She has a magic show to attend tomorrow morning.


End file.
